· This account in Genesis reveals who God is, and God’s marvelous plans at work through human events, through natural circumstances, through very real suffering, fear, pain, hardship and famine, to bring about His purposes to rescue and reconcile a people for Himself.
· The famine had not abated. God’s sovereign orchestrating of events and the world’s weather patterns had continued and the famine was severe in the land.
· There has obviously been a change in Judah and the brothers because now, instead of Judah seeking to betray his brother and leading the charge in selling his brother out, he says, “I will be a pledge of his safety. From my hand you shall require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever.”
· You see God has changed these men through circumstances and we can see from this the point that God’s people are changed by God, even when they don’t see it happening.
1.
God’s people get changed by God
·
We don’t exactly know how
we are changed. We don’t see it overnight; we may not even see the process, but
through circumstances; through daily life, God has changed His people and God
continues to change His chosen people.· We can have hope that God is at work changing His chosen people today as well, even if we don’t exactly see it and can’t see the change occurring, we can trust that God is at work to change His people.
· Clearly, the brothers needed a change of heart and now, a change of heart has occurred that could only come from God.
· Then Israel is softened by this selfless act from Judah and realizes his mistake.
· A complete and total change has happened
· The brothers have been changed over the years through God revealing their guilt and using fear and sorrow to bring them conviction that has brought about real change, confession and repentance.
· And now, Jacob is changed as well through seeing their change.
· For the first time in this story, Jacob directly points them to God Almighty, El Shaddai, and prays that they would be granted mercy before the man.
· Then, we learn from this account that it is God almighty who gives mercy to His people.
2.
God’s people receive mercy from God
·
Jacob realizes now, through
God’s merciful discipline, that his grasping and holding on to family and his
own attempts at securing his own destiny and keeping the promise of God through
trusting in his own means won’t work – so, he finally throws himself on the merciful
providence of God. · At times it is like that for us as well – we can hold onto our idols so strongly and act as if we control our own destiny
· We pretend that we know what is best - as if we are the ones to bring about what we think is right and good, and we demand from others and God that they do things our way.
· Sometimes, if we don’t let go on our own, God has to lovingly and mercifully, rip the idols out of our own hands to get us to trust in Him alone. He does this precisely because He does love us and wants to give us what is truly best for us – Himself.
· This taking away at times can be very difficult the more we hold on, yet it is for our good.
· So God was at work in Jacob and God is at work in our lives to bring us needed change and show us His mercy.
· The steward in Joseph’s house says something remarkable to the brothers– he greets them with a very Hebrew greeting of “Shalom Lakem”, which means peace to you. He speaks peace to them and the mercy of God is evident in their interactions.
· The brothers are being treated with undeserved kindness and their offense is forgiven as they are given Simeon back again.
· As Joseph sees them, he is overcome – not overcome with anger or malice or vindictive thoughts – he is overcome with compassion
3.
God’s people receive compassion from God
·
Joseph is overcome to the
point that his affection is about to burst forth in tears of compassion and he
is about to weep, so he rushes out and finds a place to go cry in his bedroom
but he still is not ready to reveal himself – he needs to help them confront
their past sin of jealousy and so he hides his response from them.· But Joseph’s actions are not motivated out of malice – they are motivated out of compassion – a warm compassion for his brothers, that could only come from God.
· And God deals with us through compassion, even when he tests us.
· Joseph’s compassion is an expression of the compassion that the Father has on His children.
· The brothers are later given an easy and convenient way out, so that they can freely abandon Benjamin who has the cup. Joseph was making it easy on them to forsake their brother and he was testing their true affections for their brother and their father.
· But this time, instead of tearing Benjamin’s clothes off as they had torn Joseph’s despised coat off, they tore their own clothes in a sign of anguish, mourning and repentance
· Where before they had abandoned Joseph to an unknown fate in Egypt – they went down to Egypt with Benjamin together – when they didn’t have to and when they were free to go
· You see, God was compassionate on them. He was making them into a peaceful nation – he was making the brothers truly united through their sin, hardship, guilt, fear, sorrow and testing.
· Only now could the brothers actually be useful for God’s purposes in making them a great nation
· Only after they had been humbled and God had changed their hearts could they be restored and reconciled
· They returned to Egypt and Judah spoke up for Benjamin. But instead of how he had spoken up and suggested that they sell Joseph into slavery and profit themselves, Judah owns up for all of the brothers.
· He didn’t even bother to try to explain that they had not taken the cup
· Judah didn’t make excuses. He didn’t offer Benjamin – he didn’t try to get out of it
· Instead, Judah and the brothers saw that this was really the hand of God
4.
God’s people are convicted by God.
·
Even though Joseph was
the means, the conviction that Judah and the brothers experienced could only
come from God.· Sure – they may not have been guilty of taking the cup – but God had found out the guilt of the brothers and had made all of this happen so that their guilt would be revealed
· Our past indiscretions, our past mistakes and sins, our foolish behavior, the things that we are ashamed of can seem to keep coming back up to us again and again and again
· But thanks be to God that God sent His son to do away with our sins and guilt – the shame and guilt that no amount of penance or scrubbing can get clean
· Jesus shed His own blood so that we can be washed with something stronger than our own attempts to atone for and cleanse our own sins
· No self-atonement will do.
· No amount of washing ourselves and scrubbing will make us clean. No amount of serving or volunteering or doing good things to make ourselves feel better can really remove the guilt that lies within and surfaces at times when we least expect it – and the guilt comes up on our front doorstep reminding us that we are not as pure as we like to pretend.
· Only the blood of Jesus applied to our sins can make us clean
· Those things that we know we deserve punishment for and we are guilty of, can be removed from us but not by our efforts.
· The good news is that His blood is the ultimate stain remover – scripture says that He washed all who repent and believe in Him as white as snow – no spot or wrinkle or stain remains when He makes us clean
· The brothers know they are guilty and they no longer try to hide – which is what we must do with Christ
· We can make no excuses before God – we must confess our sins to Him and throw ourselves on His mercy
· The conviction of the Holy Spirit had done its work in them and now, instead of hating their brother, they cared for him. Instead of not caring about how their father felt when he thought Joseph had died, now they cared about his feelings and wanted to spare him further grief.
· Then Judah does something astounding. He offers himself as a ransom and a substitute for his brother.
· He offers to take the place of his brother, even though he was not guilty of this crime
· Once this repentance was demonstrated and this offer of Judah’s was made – then true reconciliation could take place.
· Through conviction and confession of his guilt; through offering himself, Judah was reconciled to his brother and through the one brother’s selfless act, all the brothers were reconciled.
· Ultimately, this reconciliation had come about by God and this account teaches us that God’s people are reconciled by God.
5.
God’s people are reconciled by God.
·
Unless there is admission
of guilt, unless there is an acknowledgement of wrong – unless there is a price
paid, there can be no reconciliation· This reconciliation came at great cost to the brothers – they were offering to enslave themselves and Judah was offering to substitute himself for Benjamin – it was a costly proposition
· And it cost Joseph too – Joseph had to wait two years and it cost him – it was hard – he wept
· Isn’t it that way for is too?
· True reconciliation doesn’t try to gloss over sins and act as if they haven’t happened
· True reconciliation is borne only through the confession of sins and acknowledgement of wrong
· True reconciliation always has a cost to it as well - It requires humility – it may require pain and it could mean that we personally suffer for the good of another.
· It means we must let go of trying to self-justify – it means we must let go of making excuses and we may need to let go and trying to explain and be understood and be willing to take it on the chin for the good of another
· Joseph doesn’t punish them. Instead, at great cost to himself, he forgives. He lets go of 13 years of suffering in slavery and prison and forgives them freely.
· He doesn’t hold onto the very real hurt and pain that they had caused him.
· He doesn’t demand justice and he doesn’t demand that they be punished – he doesn’t take vengeance on them, even though he was right and no one – not even his brothers would have questioned his right to exact a pound of flesh from them
· Joseph is a model for forgiveness isn’t he?
· He does what we must do at times – not ignore the pain and hurt that was caused but be willing to take the hurt and pain on ourselves and forgive despite it
· At times, we are called to count the cost and give up our rights, not pretending they don’t exist but deciding to be merciful instead
· It doesn’t mean we ignore or pretend – it means we must chose to have a godly perspective and see things as coming from God’s hand
· Joseph responds with a godly perspective.
· He has had twenty two years to either nurse his wounds and look for vindication or to see things from God’s perspective and he has clearly seen God’s hand even in the midst of pain and suffering.
· He knows that the very real hurt he experienced when the shackles were around his neck was necessary and God was working through it to teach and train him.
· It couldn’t have been easy, and yet, Joseph steadfastly trusted in the character of God and that God was over all as his faithful redeemer.
· Just like God had been faithful to Abraham and Isaac and his father Jacob, he knew God would be faithful to redeem him as well.
· He knew that God was at work even when he couldn’t see Him
· Joseph told his brothers that although they had sold him into slavery, it was really God who had sent him ahead of them to prepare the way and preserve their lives
· In the midst of revealing his identity to them, he has compassion on his brothers – he sees that they are upset and instead of rubbing it in their faces, he tells them to not be distressed – don’t beat yourselves up about it – don’t be angry with yourselves.
· Jesus has been sent ahead to prepare the way for us.
· Jesus tells us to not be distressed and once we have been forgiven by Him, we are not to be angry with ourselves and to try to make up for our mistakes – we can go in peace, realizing that we forever have been made not guilty
· Not only does he forgive them freely, at great cost to himself, Joseph sends them out with blessings and he promises to prepare a place for them and to make them dwell in the best of the land
· He promises to provide for them and care for them and keep them safe from famine
· And they are restored to each other and he not only hugs Benjamin, he kisses and weeps with all of his brothers
· After they wept together over their sins, they talked with him. They were restored to fellowship with him.
· Now, after so many years, God had finally brought them together and begun to make clear that He was uniting them into a great nation and making them into a people who would be a blessing to all nations
· God was fulfilling His promise to Abraham – God had reconciled and restored them and it was a beautiful, amazing sight to see
· Most of the time, when we read the accounts of the great heroes in the Bible, we tend to read them as if we can identify with the main character, the hero.
· Not many people like to identify with the despicable characters in the story – the ones who not only done have any redemptive qualities but who are deceitful and cowardly, spineless, self-centered, greedy liars.
· But in this story, we aren’t meant to identify with Joseph as much as we are to identify with the brothers.
· You see, Joseph is a type of Christ and we really are like the brothers in this account
· Jesus freely forgives us at great cost to himself. He endured pain and suffering in our place. He left His rightful place at the right had of His father and the Creator of all, the one who breathed life into man, subjected Himself to become a lowly human.
· He who only deserved worship and adoration from His creation, took on pain and suffering and ridicule and mocking from his own family.
· He who never left His chosen people alone was left alone by His closest friends and his earthly brothers
· He was despised and rejected by mankind
· He rightly could have demanded that they worship Him and made them bow down before Him but instead, His own people mocked Him and spit on Him.
· Then in the ultimate act of selflessness, He offered Himself as a substitute
· Instead of making mankind pay for sins eternally in hell, Jesus offered Himself as a substitutionary atonement – a willing sacrifice in our place – taking the wrath that we deserve, taking the scorn – becoming abandoned for us in order to secure our reconciliation
· It was a real cost in order to secure a real restoration and a real reconciliation.
· Jesus Himself has become our shalom – our peace and He speaks words of peace to us now and tells us not to be distressed – don’t be fearful and instead believe on Him
· God was at work through the life of Joseph to secure the salvation of His people – but Joseph had to endure pain and suffering in order to save his people
· There was no other way – and in this life, we may have to endure pain and suffering
· But God used the pain and suffering of Joseph to secure the salvation of his people
· And God used the pain and suffering, the real hurt and eventually the death of Jesus t bring salvation for all who will repent of their sins against God and believe in Him
· Right now though, we cannot see God at times in the midst of our pain and very real suffering, we can be sure that He is not punishing us if we are His adopted children.
· God is at work even when we don’t see Him.
· God has not abandoned us, even when we are in the pit.
· God is not angry with His children – He is able to deliver me from these circumstances and if he does not – we can trust Him – God really is good – God really does love me.
· He really hasn’t left us all alone, even though it may feel like it
· God is not against you but He is now for you and if God is for you – who can be against you?
· If he didn’t spare His son – how can you think you are still guilty? He has forgiven you completely.
· If God punished Jesus then you don’t have to be distressed any longer. You need to stop being angry with yourself for your past sin. You need to tell the accuser of the brothers that you are not guilty anymore
· We are kept secure in God and He is leading us and guiding us all along the way, even if, as Romans 8:35 tells us, we go through tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword… nothing can separate us from His love.
· Scripture doesn’t gloss over real problems, real suffering and it doesn’t pretend like problems don’t exist
· But in the midst of these things, God is at work and God is ultimately victorious and though Jesus, we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us, even though we may be faced with many things. Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
· We don’t see everything in subjection to Jesus yet – even though it is and He has dominion and rules and reigns over all – we don’t see it quite yet
· Jesus tasted suffering and death for us though and he was made perfect through suffering in our place
· Jesus has destroyed the one who had the power over death – that is the devil.
· Jesus helps us as the children of Abraham and He is a merciful and faithful high priest
Main Idea:
God mercifully changes His people & lovingly brings conviction so that He
might reconcile us to Himself.
·
He understands even more
then Joseph and He is even more merciful than Joseph was to his brothers· Jesus is able to help all those who are being tempted in this life. And on top of all the amazing forgiveness we have received and the promise of overcoming through Christ, as well as the promise of help in the midst of temptation, Jesus has gone before us to prepare a place for us a place of true peace.
· Jesus has provided a place of true safety and security a place where all of our deepest longings will finally be fulfilled. Where we will be brought into a true promised land with Him.
“At present we are on the
outside of the world, the wrong side of the door. We discern the freshness and
purity of morning, but they do not make us fresh and pure. We cannot mingle
with the splendours we see. But all the leaves of the New Testament are
rustling with the rumour that it will not always be so. Some day, God willing,
we shall get in.” C.S Lewis, The Weight
of Glory.
Potential
Application Questions:1. How did seeing the change that God brought about in Joseph’s brothers encourage you that God can change you and those God has placed in your life as well?
2. Is there anywhere we are holding onto what we want too strongly, like Jacob held onto his idea of a perfect family and it became an idol for him? Are we strongly holding onto our own ideal situation? Our hopes, our dreams, what we think we deserve?
3. If we are holding onto something and it is an idol for us, what would letting go look like? How can we cultivate trusting in God for that area/thing?
4. Where has God been merciful to you, where you deserved something else? Encourage each other by sharing about God’s mercy in your life.
5. How does it change the way you view the discipline of the Lord to know that God is motivated by compassionate towards His children and He never disciplines us because He is angry with us?
6. How is conviction from God a sweet mercy and a compassionate blessing for us?
7. Is there anywhere that we have been hiding that we need to come clean and confess to God or others?
8. When we are convicted, how can we apply the sacrifice of Jesus to our hearts and minds to free us from guilt and inspire us to live holy lives out of love for Him?
9. How does it change the way you relate to God to know that if you are a Christian, you’ve been completely reconciled to Him?
10. Is there anywhere you’ve been faking reconciliation and either acting like problems don’t exist or glossing over real problems? How would God have you respond in faith to Him?
11. How is God calling you to be His agent of reconciliation in the relationships He has given to you?
12. How does the fact that one day we will be restored to be with God, completely free from sin, suffering and pain affect the way we think, feel or act every day? How should it?
